The racebending of Shotaro Kaneda is a done deal. But thanks to an anonymous friend of The R, we got to see the casting calls for some parts yet to be filled in the American Akira. If you haven’t read the original manga version of the story, there’s spoilers under the cut.Continue reading →

When last we left the American Akira, the racebending had barely started: Garrett Hedlund was only being courted to play the lead character, Kaneda.

This week, thanks to Geek Tyrant and other sites, we got some more disturbing pieces of the puzzle, when this casting call for extras and stand-ins listed Twilight‘s Kristen Stewart stepping in as “Ky” – possibly because the character’s original name, Kei, was just too long for somebody’s tastes – and Helena Bonham-Carter playing Lady Miyako.

The casting call also shed some light on how the new version’s vision of “Neo-Manhattan” might play out. As “adaptations” go, it sounds like this Akira could hew as closely to thisAkira as Jesus Christ Superstar did to the Gospels. Spoilers are under the cut.Continue reading →

In Akira, a corrupt government courted disaster with little regard for leaving well enough alone, only to be undone by its’ avarice. At least it looks like Warner Brothers’ adaptation is getting that right.

As reported by Racebending and other outlets late last week, WB is officially moving ahead with a live-action adaptation of the classic manga series.Continue reading →

It’s hard to imagine a more egregious anime or manga “re-imagining” than the debacle that was The Last Airbender, but this might do it.

The long-fearedrumored live-action Akira remakes garnered attention over the weekend when rumors spread that the “lead role” in the two-film series would be offered to … Zac Efron.

Yes, that would be Zac Efron as Shotaro Kaneda, leader of a gang of motorcycle-riding funboys in a post-apocalyptic urban dystopia. But it looks this remake wouldn’t necessarily be a whitewash – it’d be a complete westernization of the story.

For the purposes of our site, the big difference between this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and last year’s edition is this: only one panel out of the hundreds being offered will deal specifically with racial issues.

That one panel, by the way, will be Reginald Hudlin’s annual “Black Panel,” scheduled for bright and early Saturday morning. TBP has developed a reputation for being, shall we say, free-wheeling. But the blurb for this year promises, “The focus will be on empowerment, education, real-world networking, and finally but never last, fun.”

And that’s it. Quite the disturbing trend, considering that last year’s con saw two diversity-related panels, featuring the likes of Secret Identities‘ Jeff Yang, Milestone Universe creator Dwayne McDuffie, Star Trek‘s Faran Tahir, among others. There’s also no spotlight for NBC’s new POC spy drama Undercovers. But as you’ll see below, this looks to be a banner year for the LGBT community at the Con.

I found this article: “For Anime Fansa: Maid For A Day” by Dan Zak. The article talks about American women (read: white women) being hired to work as “Japanese maids” for a DC-area Anime convention. Among other duties, their volunteer responsibilities include “call conventioneers ‘master’ and ‘mistress.’ They gratefully drop to their knees to draw a ketchup smiley face on a Japanese omelet.”

Isn’t it great when white women appropriate Japanese culture in order to sell omlettes to the so-called ‘master’? No race & gender conflicts there, right?

In my horror, I had to pass it along. If anything, it might be fodder for a blog post.

Hope you’re having a great weekend!!

Little did she know I was at that anime convention (it’s called Katsucon) over the weekend. I woke up, checked my email, and laughed. I wasn’t planning on attending the maid cafe, but the Washington Post article made us seems like such gloriously costumed freaks, I felt like I had to go represent. I convinced most of my roomies to come with me, and so we began a quickie investigation with three main goals.

We went downstairs to determine if:

1. The maid cafe idea is sexist. 2. The maid cafe idea is racist. 3. The implementation of the maid cafe at Katsucon was racist/sexist. Continue reading →

Race, Culture, and Identity in a Colorstruck World

About This Blog

Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture. Check out our daily updates on the latest celebrity gaffes, our no-holds-barred critique of questionable media representations, and of course, the inevitable Keanu Reeves John Cho newsflashes.

Latoya Peterson (DC) is the Owner and Editor (not the Founder!) of Racialicious, Arturo García (San Diego) is the Managing Editor, Andrea Plaid (NYC) is the Associate Editor. You can email us at team@racialicious.com.